tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 20 07:15:35 2004

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Re: Aw: Re: DCKL translation problems: {rup}

Lieven L. Litaer (Quvar) ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol ghojwI']

Am 19.01.2004 20:25:26, schrieb [email protected]:

>in my book it is a verb, though
>besteuern, mit einer Strafe belegen
>
>who says that the word can have only one English/German meaning?

I don't know.

     I just try to pay very much attention to socalled "false-friends", or words that might be confusing. 
Many words have several definitions and uses in the english word, but the Klingon word can - usually - 
only be use in one sense. One simple example: In english, one can have a pizza, a drink, and a wife. In 
Klingon you need three different verbs.
    I think it's in HolQeD the story from the Brussels' qep'a' chorghDIch, where someone said {nuq 
Daghaj?} asking "what will you eat?". The German literal translation, "was hast du?" means something 
close to "what's up?" - that was a moment of confusion, I guess :-)

Coming to the point: I want to make the definitions as clear as possible, so that people can use and learn 
the words correctly.

The problem while translating is that usually you find first several meanings for the word, and then 
each of these have a few words and definitions, depending on the word's usage. The same happens 
when I translate MO's additions. These are very helpful, because I am able to convey the idea correctly.
Marc Okrand had something in mind when he made up the words. he was not just copying a dictionary.
...

       But everyone knows that there are many words that are unsure in their meaning (the never-ending 
story of transitivity) so these will get a little Markierung with a note:

tlhogh s. Ehe *[evtl. auch Hochzeit: MARRIAGE]*
*Auspuff s. taQbang. [evtl. auch Abgas: EXHAUST]

Like this the user can decide himself what to do with it. 
(Still better than sending "embassies" about "treetrunks".)
Most important is that people can find a word they look for.

Quvar.

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